Early experience with laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair in a district general National Health Services hospital.

The introduction of laparoscopic hernia repair into the National Health Services (NHS) gave us an opportunity to study the feasibility and practicality of carrying out this modern hernia repair technique in a district general NHS hospital. The laparoscopic tension-free transabdominal preperitoneal (TAPP) method of hernia repair, as we do it, is cost-effective and efficacious. Most patients can be treated as day cases. We discovered incidental hernias in 18.8% of patients, which were treated simultaneously. A low recurrence rate (0.17%) with low morbidity makes it an attractive method for routine treatment of groin hernias in the NHS.